1-96 



JOUKNAL OF EORTICULTtJEE AND CO'TTAGE GARDENER. 



t llarob 9, 1876. 



We would not advise that any finer gravel be pnt on until 

 then, as it is so likely to be worked down to the bottom ; but if 

 it be late and dry weather imminent, a scattering of finer 

 material may be made on the top, or sometimes finely broken 

 stones can be had which do equally well. Chalk is sometimes 

 used, but it is so liable to render a road impervious to rain 

 that we would rather adopt something else, but it may be used 

 rather than that loose stones should roll about all the sum- 

 mer. I will conclude by again urging the propriety of not 

 begrudging the spade-and-mattook work at the beginning, 

 which after all is half the battle in the formation of a road, 

 and the ease and comfort it gives in travelling afterwards. — 

 John Eobson. 



BEETLE EATING IRIS. 

 In the page 180 to correspondents Mr. W. atks what proof 

 I have of Carabus hortensis having eaten Iris reticulata. 

 The plant was under a glass in a pot. It was eaten down, 

 and the beetle found on it. The gardener told me that on 

 squeezing it a quantity of green stuff came out, just as from a 

 caterpillar : this can hardly have been anything else than the 

 remains of the unfortunate plant ; and the only way I see of 

 escaping the conclusion is by supposing, without evidence, that 

 something else devoured the Iris, and that this something was 

 devoured by our beetle.— G. S. 



EPIPHYLLUMS. 



At page 192 of vol. viii. New Series of this journal is an 

 article from my pen on these very desirable plants ; in that, 

 as in the present instance, in reply to a correspondent. Since 

 then twenty volumes have been issued and half as many years 

 passed, during which it is anticipated there are many new sub- 

 scribers to whom it would be useless referring to the paper in 

 question; therefore I may, without prejudice to what has been 

 previously advanced, now report progress, convinced that a 

 decade of experience the most advanced in horticultural art 

 will have effected considerable improvement on former prac- 

 tice ; for let no one think they are upon the threshold of an 

 horticultural millennium, rendering continued efforts futile. 



Epiphyllums are numerous, there being a dozen and a half 

 or more of varieties of E. truncatnm, all more or less distinct 

 in contour and of colour of flower, sufficient to render appre- 

 ciable a distinctness in varieties which iu species would not be 

 admitted. There is also a difference in the time of flowering 

 of the several varieties. The plants are grown in two ways — 

 namely, on their own roots, and grafted on Pereskia stocks. 

 On thti own roots they do not attain to anything like the 

 dimensions of grafted plants, though this mode of culture 

 affords very useful plants for facing and iilling-in where taller 

 plants would not be admissible, and they possess an advantage 

 over grafted plants in taking up less room, small pots only 

 being required. 



Cuttings strike freely, kept for a few days on a shelf for the 

 wound to dry before insertion in light sandy soil. The cut- 

 tings may be of any size, from the simple shoot of 3 or 1 inches 

 in length to that of a branch with several armlets and many 

 shoots, and inserted no deeper in the soil than is sultieient 

 from the pressure of that against the cutting to prevent its 

 falling over ; or a small stick thrust alongside the cutting, if 

 large, will maintain its equilibrium. The cuttings should be 

 taken off immediately beneath a joint, the joint of severance 

 being secured for the cutting. When the plants have been 

 kept over-wet during the period of rest and the roots have 

 decayed, or injury by any other means has prevented the 

 plants deriving support from the roots not increasiug in size, 

 ai rial rootlets are formed sulUcient in most cases to maintain 

 the plant (if the atmosphere be humid) for some years, leading 

 to the inevitable conclusion of the plant's epiphytal nature. 

 I have further noticed that if moss be placed around the 

 shoots at a joint — no matter how thick it may be — and secured 

 with a hgature of matting, that roots will be omitted if the 

 mosB be kept moist, and the shoot or branch being detached 

 and potted will grow away freely if placed in a brisk moist 

 heat. Cuttings, however, root so readily that there is no need 

 of a preparatory process. 



Cuttings should be inserted in spring in light open soil in a 

 biiek heat, keeping moist but avoiding watering more than to 

 keep the soil in a moderately moist state, the cuttings being 

 inserted around the sides of the pots, and when rooted potted-off 

 singly in 3-inch pots. If the plants have tilled the pots with 



roots, and have made, or aremaking, good top growth, shift into 

 4 J-inch pots in May or June, and by the end of July or early in 

 August the growth will be complete. They should then have 

 a lessened supply of water, and the sprinkling overhead be dis- 

 continued, aud have a Ught and airy position. A warm green- 

 house or cool stove — an intermediate house, in fact — gives the 

 most suitable temperature, but the plants may be grown veiy 

 well by those having in addition to a greenhouse a vinery 

 started in February or March, which from the moisture and 

 heat will conduce to a vigorous growth, that being completed 

 by the time the Grapes are ripening, when the plants may lie 

 removed to a light airy position in the greenhouse with water 

 only to keep the growths plump. 



The plants if kept in an intermediate house will commence 

 flowering in November and continue until February. When 

 the plants have ceased blooming water should be withheld (the 

 plants having after the flowers appear been kept moist), but 

 not so as to cause the growth to shrivel. If they have a month 

 to six weeks of this rest after flowering the plants subsequently 

 grow much more vigorously, and especially if the growth is kept 

 from being made until the days are lengthened. Any pruning 

 required should be done when the flowering is over and the 

 plants are kept dry. It may be practised advantageously when 

 the ^'rowths are very clo.se, and to give symmetry by the re- 

 ducing of irregular growths. It may be done by breaking off the 

 shoots at a joint, the plants appearing to grow all the better 

 for a good thinning of the shoots. 



When growth commences the plants should be repotted, 

 taking away as much of the old soil as possible without injur- 

 ing the roots, and they maybe returned to the same pots, add- 

 ing fresh soil. The most suitable compost is light turfy loam, 

 tery fibrous and chopped up moderately small, with an addi- 

 tion, in equal proportions, of dry cow dung, sharp or river 

 sand, and crocks — or what is better, soft bricks broken into 

 small pieces. The potting should be moderately firm and the 

 drainage thorough. At one time I thought fibrous peat should 

 form a part of the compost, but I do not now employ it for 

 these plants, they making a more vigorous growth in that at 

 present employed. 



When the plants are in free growth and the roots active 

 liquid manure may be given abundantly ; a peck of cow dung 

 to twenty gallons of water answers well, or one peek of sheep 

 droppings to thirty gallons of water, one peck of soot to thirty 

 gallons, or one pound of guano to twenty gallons of water, 

 avoiding making the soil sodden, and leaving off the applica- 

 tions of manure water when the growth is complete. 



Although the plants may be grown in a vinery where they 

 must necessarily have shade, yet I find shade is not neces- 

 sary even during growth, 1 he plants without it growing more 

 strongly, and havo much better substance and larger blooms. 

 Afford them light, therefore, if possible during growth, and 

 free ventilation with abundant atmospheric moisture, sprink- 

 ling or syringing twice daily fmorning and afternoon), and a 

 temperature of GO' to ('•■'>' at night. To' to 8.'i or 'M' with stiu 

 and air by day. When the growth is complete 50" to ."i5= night, 

 0(1 to (j.-i day, to 75" with sun will be suitable; and afford 

 water at that time to maintain the growths plump, for over- 

 dryness is prejudicial to these plants, though not perhaps so 

 injurious as extreme moisture. 



Useful and attractive as are plants on their own roots, those 

 grafted on the Pereskia stock (I'erefkia aculeata) are infinitely 

 superior both in vigour of plants and their ornamental cha- 

 racter. The stocks are readily obtained by inserting cuttings 

 any time during summer, but the present is perhaps as good a 

 time as any, as the Pereskia now starts into growth. Cuttings 

 of about inches in length, which may be of the growing 

 points or the shoots cut into lengths, inserted singly in iJinch 

 pots in light sandy loam and plunged in a bottom heat of 75' 

 with the soil just moist, will soon have roots showing at 

 the sides of the pot. The cuttings, it may as well be said, 

 will strike freely during summer in a vinery or other place 

 where there is a brisk moist heat ; and when they are estab- 

 lished we shift into o-inch pots and encourage growth by 

 affording bottom heat and plenty of moisture, the shoots being 

 supported by stakes as they advance in growth, the plants 

 being taken up with a single shoot ; and when they have 

 attained a thickness for grafting equal to that of the scions 

 the operation may be performed, selecting for scions the 

 roundest shoots and such as are hkely to branch ecjually. 

 The stocks should be kept rather drier and withdrawn from 

 the hotbed, if in one, allowing about a mouth or six weeks to 

 become ripened, and then they are ready for grafting. 



